Unforeseen Surprises
by Raven's secret-keeper
Summary: When a girl who looks like Raven shows up at Titans' Tower, and she's begging for help, the team lets her stay. And since then, Raven has been acting strangely, and the girl turns out to be a lot more like Raven than they first imagined. Officially done!
1. Stranger at the Door

_This is my first story chronologically, but it's definitely not the first one I've ever written. But it is the first **story** I've posted on this site. Those of you who have read my character bio for Dove already have a small idea of what she will be like, but she seems so much different in the actual stories, especially in the beginning of this one. For those who haven't, read on._

_The setting would be about a year after the End episodes._

_Read and review,_

_**Raven's secret-keeper**_

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_**Chapter 1: Stranger at the Door**_

It was around noon. The sky outside of the main room's window was darkening with clouds that signaled rain. None of the four titans in the room noticed the storm brewing outside.

Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing video games, Robin and Starfire were watching, and Raven was in her room meditating.

The monotonous noises seemed the equivalent of silence. That is, until the doorbell was heard.

"I shall get it!" Starfire called, and she flew downstairs to answer it.

And she opened the door to a figure resembling Raven. She had violet eyes and a chakra on her forehead, but she was smaller and skinnier than Raven. She wore the same kind of clothes as Raven, only her clothes were white and were a little tattered. Her hair was the same length and slit every so often, but it slanted down from her chin to her shoulders, and her bangs were shoulder length. Her hair was also iridescent from purple to a yellow blond.

The two looked at each other for a while before the stranger nervously asked, "Is this Titans' Tower?" Her voice was pretty raspy and sounded like a normal person's voice besides that.

"Yes. How is it I may help you?"

"Ummmmmm…"

Another silence stretched between the two.

Robin then entered the entrance room. "Starfire, who is it? You've been-" He stopped. He had seen the girl.

"I am not certain. Please do come in." Starfire closed the door after the other had hesitantly stepped in and all three went to the main room.

When they reached the room, everyone eyed her. "Um… H…Hello…?" the newcomer said uncertainly.

"She looks almost like Raven," Cyborg noted.

"Uh… Hi," Beast Boy greeted, and all of them were wondering the same thing… Why did this person resemble Raven so much?

Raven had just finished meditating and halted as she entered the doors and saw the newcomer.

Their eyes met. Raven's narrowed, the other's widened.

"Who are you?" Raven asked, accusing and suspiciously.

"Th-they c-call me D-Dove," she sputtered, obviously startled by and afraid of Raven's piercing tone.

"Where did you come from and why did you come here?"

"A-azarath. Because…" She looked away and swallowed. "It was destroyed… by… something terrible…"

"Azarath?" _She doesn't look familiar,_ Raven thought. _I think I would remember if I saw someone like me in Azarath._ The other looked at Raven and bit her lip.

"Uh-huh."

"But why did you come _here_?" Raven's tone was more suspicious than sharp.

"Uh… This will sound crazy…"

"We've dealt with crazy," Robin told her. "Many times."

Dove sighed and bowed her head. "I had a… a vision… two hours before Azarath was destroyed. Of Azarath burning. Then… four red eyes in a crimson sky and deep, horrible laughter. It felt like I was being burned alive and it scared me so much…" She seemed pained at the memory. "And then I saw Earth and Titans' tower… It took me a while to realize that if I didn't come here, I would… die… and it just doesn't seem right to die just because…"

Raven remembered what it was like to see Azarath, the place of her birth, destroyed before her eyes. And the way she felt about it.

"You look like you haven't slept or eaten in a while," Robin observed.

"Azarath was destroyed almost a year ago," Raven suddenly cut in. "Have you been here since then?"

Dove nodded, then winced and moaned.

"Are you OK?" BB asked, noticing just how weak and ill she looked.

"I'll be fine… just weak from lack of food and rest… Um… I was wondering if it would be OK if I stayed here," she said hopefully. "No one seems to accept me, and I need a home. I can't go on living like this much longer!" Her voice was now pleading, and strained like she was holding back tears. "Please help me, _please_!" she said, now sounding desperate as her voice became softer and gave way to tears.

"Why won't other people accept you?" Robin asked.

"Because my… I…" But before Dove could finish, what looked like white electricity encased one of the lights, Dove ducked, and it exploded.

"That," she said and stood up and bowed her head, tears flowing like a steady river.

Everyone looked at Dove, half startled, half curious, except Raven, who said flatly, "You can't control your powers."

Dove shook her head and looked at Raven.

Thoughts raced through Raven's mind. _She's from Azarath…She looks almost exactly like me… she wears exactly what I wear… the chakra… Even her powers… When I get too upset in any way, I lose control-_

"Really?" Dove said suddenly.

"'Really' what?" Beast Boy questioned.

"Oh no…" Dove looked worried. "She just said 'when I get upset, I lose control'_… _didn't you… Raven…?" She bit her lip again.

"No, I _thought_ that," Raven replied.

Dove sighed. "Not again," she mumbled too quietly for any of the others to hear.

"Interesting," Robin said.

"What?" Dove asked nervously.

"It looks like you can read minds," Robin told her.

"Uh, yeah… I … can't really control that either… Heh heh… So, can I please stay? Will you help me?" _Don't reject me, don't reject me, don't reject me…_

"Why would we?" Raven asked.

"Why _wouldn't_ we? Raven, is something wrong?" Robin asked.

"No," Raven told him.

"Then why do you think she shouldn't stay?"

"I never said that."

"Then what did 'why would we' mean?"

"Why would we _reject_ her."

"Where did rejection come in?" BB asked.

"She just said… Wait… her lips… Did anyone else hear her say 'don't reject me' three times?"

"Not even once," Cyborg said. "Ok, this is gettin' weird. First we get a Raven look-alike at the door, then mind-reading, and now what?"

"Telepathy," Robin answered after a moment. "She can… somehow talk with her mind…"

"Isn't that what Aqualad does?" Beast Boy asked.

Robin nodded.

"So what are we gonna do with her?" Cyborg asked.

Dove watched as the titans huddled up and began discussing the matter. She yawned and almost fell asleep where she was, but then Robin said, "You can stay."

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_**-Raven's secret-keeper**_


	2. The Healing Process

_Last chapter: A stranger who looks like Raven and proclaims to be from Azarath shows up at the door. And the titans decide to let her stay._

_Read and review,_

_**Raven's secret-keeper**_

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_**Unforeseen Surprises**_

_**Chapter 2: The Healing Process**_

"On one condition," Cyborg added.

"You need to train with Raven," Robin elaborated. "She can show you how to control your emotions, and your powers."

"_Really_? I can **_stay_**?" Her eyes lit up and a glowing smile added to her bright moment.

Then her eyes closed, and she moaned weakly. She yawned again and began rubbing the side of her head. Her eyes went from lightly closed to tight with her pain. She made a high-pitched "mmmmmm" noise and Robin asked if she was okay in a concerned tone.

"I... think so... I just fell, that's all..."

While she said this, Raven took a small step towards her. "How far from?" She looked at Dove with concern in her gaze.

"Well... uh... _ow_!... The sky, a few feet over a building in Jump City."

"And you lived!?" Beast Boy chimed in excitedly.

"Well, yeah. I fell onto the building. But it still... hurt... a lot." Dove winced and backed away from Raven, sensing something she didn't like.

"It's OK, I'm just going to heal you," Raven said gently.

"Heal me...?" Dove wasn't sure what to make of it, but a bad experience caused her to back into the wall. "How?"

"With my powers." Then, as Dove moved left to avoid Raven's periwinkle-auraed hands, she added, "It won't hurt."

"I'm not scared of pain, but..." Dove lost her voice to the fear rising within her.

All of the others watched this odd behavior. No one had ever resisted healing before (what was so wrong with her that she didn't want the pain gone?) and Raven had never volunteered to heal someone before, especially a complete stranger.

But somewhere deep down, Raven sensed that Dove wasn't a complete stranger. Dove was her. Only she wore white. Dove was from Azarath. Dove had powers unleashed by emotion. Dove had seen Azarath destroyed. And Dove knew how terrible Trigon was. Raven could sense it, all of it, when Dove told them her story. When she talked, pain was in her voice. Suddenly Raven was determined to learn more about Dove.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," she said softly and reassuringly.

This surprised the titans more than they already were. Raven _never_ uses that tone!

Raven began taking slow, careful steps towards Dove.

Dove looked at Raven, wide-eyed and shivering with fear. Then she huddled her arms to her chest and turned her head to the ground on her side, and she began her high-pitched, quiet whimpering.

Raven asked, "What's wrong?" in a soft tone that no one , not even herself, recognized.

"No... don't... please..." Dove begged softly. Raven could just make out what she said. Her voice was soft, tight, and hoarse.

Dove slowly collapsed to the ground so that her knees were bent against her body, arms and head in the position they were in before.

Raven, hands no longer glowing, knelt on one knee to level with Dove. "Why not?" she whispered, sensing urgency in Dove's voice.

Dove opened her tightly closed eyes a bit and said, "Just... don't... please..." Suddenly, tears began flowing from Dove's eyes as if a thunderstorm had erupted and caused a flash flood beneath her closed eyelids. She wanted to cry "stop it!" but couldn't. Her throat was too tight.

"Just let me," Raven told her quietly. "You'll feel a lot better. Physically and mentally."

Raven began to sense the other Titans staring at her intently, but tried to ignore it.

_Why should I trust you? _Dove wanted Raven to know that she wouldn't let her, but was too upset. All she could do was look up at Raven, blinking her tearful, traumatized eyes.

Suddenly, Raven and Dove locked eye-contact, and Dove felt a flash of something she'd never sensed before and let out a small gasp of surprise. Emotions flooded into her, and before she could comprehend what was happening, another white bolt of white energy escaped her control and flipped over the couch Beast Boy and Cyborg were sitting on, taking them with it.

Dove cowered into a tighter ball than ever in her corner and began whimpering. She stopped suddenly and let out a noise of pain, coughed once and moaned, again holding her throat with one hand.

Dove then began coughing, gently at first. Then she went into a coughing fit, struggling to breathe. She put the hand that was over her throat over her mouth.

Raven, though it was hard to see because of how violent her body-rocking fit of coughing uncontrollably was, noticed Dove shivering.

"I'm gonna get her some water," Robin announced.

"That's not all she needs," Raven said quietly. She, surprising the titans beyond the horizons of their dreams, inched so close to Dove that any closer would make contact and took off her cloak before wrapping it tenderly around Dove's heaving, traumatized, shivering uncontrollably body, and Dove grabbed the edges shakily and wrapped it tighter around herself. Raven began rubbing her hands in swift motions to help, and wasn't surprised to feel Dove's robe damp and cold, not dry like hers.

Robin gave Raven a glass of water, and Dove took it and eventually managed to drink some of it. After about three seconds, the coughing began to cease, and it soon stopped completely.

Dove let herself lean weakly against Raven's body as she gasped desperately for breath. Gradually the shivering stopped, too. When she had stopped shivering altogether, Dove lifted her head and whispered, barely audible and raspy, "Thanks," but she barely got it out before she moaned softly and fainted in Raven's arms.

* * *

Dove woke up in a dark room on a spacious bed. She felt, for the first time in almost two years, warm and relaxed. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a window. Outside, the sky was overcast by dark heavy clouds.

A couple of birds flew into a sheltering tree, and those birds reminded her of -

_"Sieara!"_ Dove said, and sat up so suddenly her back crackled. "Oh no..."

"'Sieara'? That sounds Azarathian," a familiar voice said to Dove. She gasped quietly and turned to her right. The voice was Raven, who Dove hadn't seen sitting there before.

"Yeah." She sighed. "It is," Dove told her, recovering from the shock.

"Who's... Sieara?"

"She was..." She inhaled, still catching her breath... "...my companion..." And she let the breath out softly.

"You brought someone with you out of Azarath?"

"No, she's a dove."

Raven looked skeptical.

"Sieara was my best friend since... as long as I can remember. She's never been separated from me for any longer than a few minutes before, and when she flew off it was to find food."

The wind howled at the window, and Dove tensed.

"Are you okay?" Raven asked, only a little concerned.

"Yeah," Dove replied, half convincingly.

Then there was a huge clap of thunder, and Dove screamed shortly but loudly and huddled up close to Raven. She began whimpering and shaking with fear.

Raven wasn't sure how to react to this. "What's wrong?"

"I-I don't kn-kn-know," Dove replied with pure honesty.

There was a knock on the door, and Raven got up to answer it.

It was Robin. "Are you two alright?"

"We're fine."

"Who screamed?"

"Dove. I think it was the thunder. But she'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

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_Sieara is pronounced sigh-**ear**-uh._

_No, they're not in Raven's room._

_I know Raven seems a bit out of character, but you'd be too if this was your circumstance. (And I wrote this story a long time ago, so cahracterization was hard for me...)_

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_**-Raven's secret-keeper**_


	3. Tides of Realization

_Sorry it took so long to update. The computer was being stupid, then it wouldn't save to the disk, and now the mouse went bad... Well, here it is._

_I know I told someone it would be soon. Sorry!_

_Read and review,_

_**Raven's secret-keeper**_

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_**Unforeseen Surprises**_

_**Chapter 3: Tides of Realization**_

Raven shut the door and sat back down next to Dove.

"It's... It's okay, it's just thunder."

"I know," Dove whispered back, "that it's just clouds colliding, but I can't help... being terrified..." She moaned and pressed herself closer to Raven as another but smaller clap was heard.

Raven, remembering that Dove had lost control before, reminded her to calm down.

Dove tearfully replied, "I've been trying since... I don't' know, but I've been trying to calm down."

"You don't have to get defensive. You won't get in trouble if something unexpected happens. Trust me, we're used to it."

Dove looked up at Raven, her violet eyes wide with fear and her face pale. "But it's beyond average fear. Whenever I try to calm down, the fear overwhelms me. And I can't meditate-" Dove stoped herself, suddenly wondering how Raven would react.

"Meditate?" The similarities never ceased. She doubted it, but maybe Dove meant something else.

"Um, yeah..." Dove remembered that Raven was supposed to meditate daily and she realized that she had no reason to fear her. "I have troubles..."

"As in?"

"I have... unpleasant... flashbacks, and I can't keep my emotions under control long enough to be calm to meditate."

"You don't always have to be calm to meditate. You meditate to be calm."

Dove blinked.

"Try to clear your mind. Just try not to think. If a thought enters your mind, try to cut it off."

Dove backed away from Raven and crossed her legs. She closed her eyes tighter, then told Raven, "It's not working!" Another boom echoed across the skies. Dove swallowed nervously.

"What about chanting? A mantra?"

"My mother told me that you used Azarath Metrion Zinthos, and it works for me - that is, when I'm not-" Dove moaned.

"Try it. It might help."

Dove sighed. "Last time I tried meditating during a storm, I failed completely. I just have trouble meditating."

Raven could hear a hint of frustration in Dove's voice. "At least try it for now. I know that the circumstances are less than perfect, but these are the times when you will need to meditate most."

Dove sighed and slowly chanted, "Azarath metrion zinthos." She chanted it twice more before a crack of lightning lit up the room, even through her closed eyelids, and a loud crack of thunder sent a shiver cascading down her spine. She broke out in a cold sweat.

"I can't handle the fear," Dove gasped swiftly.

"Dove-"

Before Raven could finish, Dove put her head in her hands and began sobbing.

"Dove-!" A white bolt of energy left Dove's body and flickered dangerously close to the walls.

"Dove, calm down!"

Dove looked up. "I-I-I'm so sorry, b-but I can't," she whispered softly.

"Dove, your powers - How powerful are your powers?"

"I don't know! I've never used them to the full extent before."

"Dove, the fear - your powers - You might destroy the entire tower!"

"I-"

Raven sent out her own bolt of black energy and it collided with Dove's unharnessed energy before both vanished in a flash of blinding white.

Dove shuddered. "I'm so sorry..."

"You _really_ don't have that much control, do you?"

Dove only sobbed.

Raven, being an empath, could sense Dove's sorrow and sighed. "There's nothing to be sorry for. You can't control your powers. It's not your fault."

Dove swallowed and looked at Raven, who put up a semispherical force field up around Dove and herself. She kept it over them until the storm ended and sunrays filtered through the window. Then she took it down. Dove, tears still flowing but sobs subsided, leaned onto Raven's body and whimpered.

"It's over," Raven told her quietly.

"I know..."

"You doing okay?"

Dove shrugged. "Tired..." She closed her eyes tightly, and more tears fell.

"What is it?"

Dove couldn't answer anything but the truth. "I'm not sure." She sobbed and sat up away from Raven's body, feeling anxiety, confusion, and Raven could sense depression and trauma. Her deep violet eyes gazed into Raven's.

She hung her head. Breaking the gaze, and suddenly said, "I miss Azarath!" She began sobbing.

Raven was more than sympathetic. She remembered when she had first left Azarath. The only place she had ever known. Though she didn't quite agree with some of the philosophies, Azarath would always hold a place in her heart.

"I can't even go back!"

"I know," Raven said, once more remembering the feeling of having the land of her birth destroyed before her eyes by Trigon. She felt a sweeping wave of hatred for him, but she pushed it aside.

"You saw Azarath... being destroyed?"

"Yeah..." Raven avoided the specifics. If Dove asked too many questions...

"What?"

Raven looked at Dove's confused face. "What do you mean?

"I thought you left before Azarath was- Didn't you-?"

"I went back."

"Why?"

"Let's just say I was... struggling to avoid something."

Dove blinked, then nodded.

"I... I'm surprised you aren't asking me more." Few people knew of Raven's "boundaries."

Dove's reply startled her. "I know what it's like to need to keep a secret."

A fresh wave of tears and sobs crashed onto Dove, and Raven asked what it was.

"I-I-I can't help b-b-b-b-but remember when I first left - I m-mean before I left - After the v-v-vision - and my mother..." Dove lost control of her voice at that point.

Raven wondered what Dove was so upset about, but decided she shouldn't invade Dove's life.

After a few minutes, Dove sniffed and let herself fall onto her back. The sobs ceased. Raven still sensed emotional pain. "It's almost dinner time. Do you want anything to eat?"

Dove shook her head. "I'm not hungry." She yawned.

"Maybe you should get some rest."

"Yeah..." Raven got up. Then Dove spoke up. "Wait... Thanks."

"For what?"

"Just... For being there. Not rejecting me, not saying my fears were silly, accepting my lack of control, not pushing me away..." Her voice trailed off.

"You're - welcome."

There was an awkward silence, then Raven said, "You look like you haven't eaten in a while. Are you sure-?"

"Yes. I'm in pain and just not hungry."

"Is it your head?"

"Um, yeah," Dove replied softly, then she shot up and looked anxiously at Raven. "Please... don't..." she pleaded, her voice soft and afraid.

"Do you trust me-?" Too late, Raven realized how unlikely it was.

But Dove startled her with a quiet reply of, "**-sigh-** Yes... Go on..."

"It'll be easier if you relax."

Dove still tensed as Raven's periwinkle, glittering-auraed hands approached her head. She closed her eyes tightly, but half opened them again. She felt an odd, tingling sensation in every area that was hurting - even where she was sore and aching - then a faint numbness for an instant, and then... nothing. Dove looked up at Raven.

"How - I - Thanks..."

She looked the opposite of Raven's voice and blushed. "Sorry, I... overreacted... I just... a bad experience... heh... sorry..." She apologized, stammering and feeling silly and immature.

"You still don't need to apologize," Raven told her.

Dove lifted her eyes, but didn't look right at Raven.

"Once more, you can't control it. So you had a bad experience. Like your powers, sometimes you just need a little help with it. I'll help you get that control. And if the when you can control your powers never comes, then at least you have a safe warm home."

Dove looked up at Raven and smiled.

"Thank you so much... For everything," Dove said softly as she put her arms around Raven.

Startled, Raven tensed for a moment, then relaxed and returned the action. Sensing Raven's tension and surprise, Dove said, "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Never mind," Raven said. She knew what Dove had meant by it.

Dove rested her head trustingly on Raven's shoulder, and she let her arms fall. She made a small noise of comfort, then fell asleep. Raven gently put her head on the pillow and covered her. With one last glance, she headed to the kitchen.

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_**-Raven's secret-keeper**_


	4. First Training

_FYI: The room Dove is supposed to be in is the one that Terra used to be in._

_Read and review,_

_**Raven's secret-keeper**_

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* * *

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_**Unforeseen Surprises**_

_**Chapter 4: First Training and More Realization**_

Dove woke up the next morning. She let her eyes wander around the room, expecting pain, or a headache, or fear and anxiety to fall into her like it always did, but nothing happened today. Nothing happened.

_Maybe today's lucky,_ Dove thought. Then she remembered what had happened yesterday. She sat up and put a hand on her head, wondering if it was too good to be true.

After a quick stretch, she got up stealthily without a sound. She looked around the empty room for a window so she could guess what time it was, but she couldn't find one.

_It's too dark to have one in here,_ Dove thought, then she walked around the room, observing how big it seemed and wondering why there was nothing in it. She was jolted out of her thoughts by a sudden _swish_-_click_ noise.

Dove jumped and gasped sharply as she turned. She put her hand over her mouth and panicked until she recognized Raven, then put her hand over her heart, hoping the beats weren't as loud as they felt.

"Hi," Dove gasped breathlessly.

"I didn't mean to scare you," Raven said softly. "I guess I'm good at it."

"It's fine," Dove replied. "What time is it?"

"About 7:30," Raven replied.

"Oh, really?" Dove looked around. "I haven't slept that long in a long time…"

"I wonder why," Raven said sarcastically.

"I know," Dove said with a sigh. "But I wasn't _always_ like this…" She stared off into space.

"Few people are," Raven replied.

"Some people are," Dove said with a shrug.

"If you lived in Azarath-"

"Even an Azarathian can have trouble sleeping…" Dove shuddered.

"What-?"

Dove expression made Raven cut herself off. "I _really_ don't want to talk about it… Even before I came to this dim- uh- place, I wasn't exactly average…"

"I'm guessing you don't want to talk about that either."

"It's that obvious, isn't it? Well, yeah. I'd rather not."

"Interesting… Why did you stop yourself from saying dimension?"

Dove looked startled. "You know about that?"

"Why wouldn't I? I'm from Azarath, too."

"Oh… Right. I think I'm forgetting everything my mother told me…" Dove turned away from Raven.

"Dove?"

"I'm fine… I… Just memories…" Dove closed her eyes. "I was so close to my mother, even though I wasn't supposed to be affectionate in any way with anything…" Dove shook her head swiftly but gently. "I-I'm sorry… I know I shouldn't get emotional, but I just can't help it sometimes."

Dove looked over her shoulders at Raven. "My mother told me that you weren't exactly Azarathian by blood, but you've lived there since birth, so you weren't considered from Earth, either…" Dove sighed and bowed her head. "But she told me your mother was from Earth, and your father…"

"It's… It's probably true," Raven said.

Dove turned back around. "I… I'd rather not talk about this either… It… makes me remember my mother and so many things… I don't want to lose control of myself…"

"Maybe we should start your training," Raven said. "Then you won't have to avoid talking because it upsets you."

"That's not the only-" Dove stopped herself, realizing what she was about to say. "Never mind… What do we do first?"

Raven started off by asking Dove if she knew how her powers worked and what they were.

Dove answered, "Yes… I can levitate, shoot dark energy, um, read minds and open mental conversations, talk to and read animals' minds, and telekinesis…"

"Is that all?" Raven asked. Dove thought for a moment and decided holding back from Raven would be holding back from her only and likely most able and last mentor.

"No. I can become… I guess the word would be intangible, I have this sixth sense of empathy and a precognitive sense I can't control at all; that's how I had the vision-"

"I thought so…"

"-and I can pretty much heal someone, but I can't get it right… All the way, at least…"

Dove looked at Raven, then said, "I can… I can sense that you're confused… What's wrong?"

"It's just… I have all of those abilities, and a few more… Staying focused is important. Do you know how your powers work?"

"Not the intangibility, precognition, or levitation, which is why I've only been able to do it when I'm desperate, but telekinesis, all of the animal communication, and any of my telepathetic abilities, yes. It's all pretty much centered around my soul…"

Raven nodded. "Do you know what tends to trigger your abilities?"

"Emotions and desperation."

"Sometimes you have to release a bit of emotional energy for your powers to work. I think…"

"You think?"

"I'm only saying this because you're so much like me."

"I know… It's… weird… heh heh…" Dove began to look flustered, but then she shook her head and licked her lips.

"Are you OK?"

"I'm fine. Let's get back to the lesson…."

"Alright…" Raven could sense that Dove was anxious and afraid of something, but she still continued on.

She began teaching Dove how to clear her mind completely of all emotion. She said it was probably the most important skill she could learn, as it was the basis of meditation, part of the process in telekinesis, and would help Dove remain in control of herself at all times. Dove had trouble at first, and Raven assured her it would take a lot of time and 24-7 control and practice.

"I _lived_ with my mentor until I was 10, and only because-"

"I know; it was Azar and she died. My mother told me…"

"Uhhh… Right." Raven hadn't exactly expected Dove to know that she had lived with Azar in the temple.

"Um… About the emotional control… I can't manage at all when I'm under stress…Or afraid of anything, or especially when… During a thunderstorm or around a big dog…"

"Phobias?"

"Uh-huh. The thunderstorm fear has been around since I first came here, and the dog fear… It was actually caused because before I got to Jump City, I… almost was killed by one…"

"What happened?"

"I walked into an alley, and I sat down by one of the walls because it was so hot. There was nothing there but a bunch of boxes… And then I heard a dog bark; that deep, threatening bark that tells you, 'Get out of here, NOW!' I would've, but he was in the way. The alley was so small and he was so big… I tried communicating with him, but he was too mad or territorial or whatever he was to listen. And I could vividly sense my life on the line of me escaping, but… I was so scared that when I tilted my head to the sky and screamed Azarath Metrion Zinthos, nothing happened. I said it in a calmer tone, but fear of the… possible death…kept my emotions so intense and I couldn't control myself… The dog began stepping closer and I began saying it over and over and my voice got quieter and then faded. I looked back at the dog and huddled to the wall and I whispered it two more times. I remember feeling tears coming on that stopped my voice from working right…And I remember barely being able to whisper 'Azar help me, oh please, Azar help me,' and then the dog jumped on me and knocked me over. It slashed the side of my face. I screamed and it bit my arm. The pain was so intense… I couldn't stand it. The dog had scratched me so many times with its sharp nails… Tears were flowing from my – now closed – eyes… l-like a river… So many places I had never felt pain before…A-Azar…I was barely conscious when I heard someone running and the dog whimpered… and then I fainted…I-I was… Oh, A-a-a-Azar..."

"Dove! Are you OK?"

"Yeah… Just… Incredibly emotional… The pain I felt... The fear… Oh sweet Azar…" She slowly collapsed to the floor and put her head in her hands.

Raven leveled with her on one knee and told her, "It's fine. You're safe now…" Raven's expression was one of genuine concern.

"Oh Azar…" She began rocking back and forth, shaking with fear and remembered pain.

"Is that all?" Raven asked quickly, trying to bring her back to the real world.

"I-I think…" Dove gave a weak moan and took in a deep, shaky breath.

"What else is there?" Raven asked.

"I-I can't… H-h-hold on… My mind… Pure torture…"

After awhile, Dove began to slowly cease rocking.

Finally, still shaking faintly but breathing normally, she said, "OK… I'm sorry… I should control myself better than that…"

"It was incredibly traumatic, wasn't it?"

"It's still no reason to act that way…" Dove stood up and Raven followed suite.

"Dove, it's fine. Just watch yourself next time. You should try meditating or something to calm yourself down."

"I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything."

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_**-Raven's secret-keeper**_


	5. Settling In to a New Life

_**Note:** In this chapter, Dove's in another room, this time with a window. (There HAS to be more rooms than the three we always see with a window, being Raven's room, Starfire's room, and the main room.)_

_**Note 2**: It's a little short, but I wanted the next part to have it's own chapter. (I personally think it's very interesting and exciting.)_

_Read and review,_

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_**Unforeseen Surprises**_

**_Chapter 5: Settling In to a New Life_**

Raven and Dove went to the meal times with the rest of the team, but beyond that, they never left Dove's room, as it came to be, and trained for the next two days. In that time, Dove also found Sieara, exhausted and weak, but alive, on the beach and Raven helped Dove heal her.

Sieara was a bit larger than most doves - Dove said that was just one of her qualities - and Raven could have sworn she saw that Sieara's tail was longer than normal with purple tips before they vanished and the bird flew onto Dove's shoulder.

"Sieara had a spell put on her when she was only 2 months old by Srentha," Dove explained quickly. "Azar's magic and all... It's amazing what he could teach me in ten minutes or so..." Dove sighed at a brief flashback of him teaching her a simple illusion spell, and she giggled at the memory of his wild, cerelean blue hair glowing with a green-golden tint. "Now Sieara's just smore intelligent than most doves... Almost like a raven if you ask me. She even glows if she's near anything Azarathian-magical. Srentha put a spell on her that allows her to sense magic and track it, plus many more things he never got the chance to show me..."

Since then, the dove never flew off of Dove's shoulder except to sleep.

Dove also remembered a few things she had brought from Azarath and hidden in a forest near the city in a box. Raven used this as an oppurtunity to help Dove with her levitation problems, but it ended in disaster; Dove nearly knocked herself out trying to land in the forest between two trees, and only making it_ into_ the first. Raven helped Dove carry the box into the tower, both girls using telekinesis, and Dove showed Raven everything in it.

The first thing Dove took out was a small golden statue of a dove from Azarath. The base curved out like the bottom of a wine glass and almost fit in Dove's palm. The bird on it had its wings outspread and the wings were so detailed, the individual feathers were seen clearly. The tail was fanned, making the bird seem like it would soar right from Dove's hand as she held it on her open palm. Raven asked why she had it and Dove said it relaxed her and made her think about happier times. Then she took out a mirror similar to Raven's own with an almost golden rim carved to looked more like wings. Raven's astonishment made Dove giggle a bit, and she put it on the bedside table. Next Dove pulled out a book with care and put it next to her.

"My mother used to read it to me all the time... Let's not dwell on the subject..."

A few more books were beneath it, and then Dove took out a journal.

"For poetry, not agenda or whatever else," Dove explained quietly. She sighed, then took out the rest of the box's contents; another small pile of books, a few different potion and spell ingredients, and a bag of dove seed for Sieara.

"All of these things each bring back a different memory... I just wish I wasn't in such a rush to get out of there and had said good-bye to Srentha..."

"At least you weren't killed by-"

"I know... But it still hurts to know I'll never see him again..."

"You seem to talk about Srentha a lot. And why does that name sound familiar...?"

"You lived in the temple, right? He was the high-magistrate's grandson."

"I didn't even know Coman had a child, let alone a grandchild."

"Me neither, until Srentha showed up in my life."

"Interesting... We should probably start setting up your room now."

Dove nodded and picked up the books before setting them on the shelf. Then she took the statue and the ingredients and put them on the shelf, the ingredients on the middle shelf and the statue on the shelf next to the books.

"Is that all?"

Dove nodded.

"Any ideas?"

"On what?"

"Setting up your room to be _your_ room."

"Um... Yeah, actually."

They ended up making the walls and ceiling darker and Dove said she might need another shelf.

"I always used to read a new book almost every week," Dove told Raven. "I love reading..."

Raven looked at Dove, half in curiosity, half in understanding.

They seemed more similar every day.

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_**-Raven's secret-keeper**_


	6. Secrets Unwillingly Revealed

_**Note : **This chapter is definately good for hard-core Raven fans like myself!_

_**Note 2: **__This chapter starts out at around midnight with Dove sleeping in her new room. It takes place two nights after they set up her room; the fifth night._

_**Note 3**: Raven and Dove aren't aware of what's going on with each other until the door opens._

_Read and review,_

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_**Unforeseen Surprises**_

**_Chapter 6: Secrets Unwillingly Revealed_**

It was happening again.

Dove was having that dream, that memory, that nightmare for the first time in a month again. She tossed and turned in her bed, dreaming of the pain and feeling it once more.

_The vision... Azarath gone... It was HIS fault...!_

_She saw the four red eyes in the sky in her remembered vision, and emotion fell into her. Fear, anger, confusion, and a sudden surge of hatred. All seemed black... Except those four, red, glowing eyes. Laughter boomed across the infinate skies in a voice Dove only knew too well._

_What's happening? Dove asked herself in her night trance. A sudden feeling surged through her body. She had only felt it a few times before... She knew what was happening to her. Memories of the vision faded into a current problem; a major problem at that._

_'These emotions are too strong!'_ _Dove told herself._ '_Calm down!' She lost her desperate sceams to herself inside her soul; it was going too far. 'NO!' Dove felt the feeling... The emotions are dangerous! I'm losing control! No. No, no no no no NOOO!_

Dove screamed in her bed and bolted up, gasping desperately for breath and sweating a cold flood. The realization that she wasn't surrounded by a black infinity didn't comfort her this time; instead, the usually consoling darkness pressed in on her. Dove was still mentally screaming.

_The emotions hit a dangerous level that time_... Dove gasped in realization. She felt her face and hung her head before shaking it violently and feeling beneath her eyebrows and panicking.

_No, no... I can't- I just did!_

White bolts of energy were crackling around her body. Dove shakily crossed her legs and began to make a fruitless attempt to calm down, to at least get this under control.

Raven was having a head pounding, heart stopping empathy attack. Following her senses, she ended up in front of Dove's room. She let the door open...

Dove closed her eyes tightly and reopened them.

Raven took a step back, her expression one of disbelief.

Dove felt between her eyes and her eyebrows once more and calmed down a bit once she knew they were no longer there. Then she saw Raven, and her expression, and gasped.

"Oh no," she mumbled so quietly she could barely hear herself.

Raven's mouth opened, but no words came out.

The two girls stared at each other for a while before the crackling white energy faded.

Dove was the first to speak. "I... How... You... oh, Azar..." Dove put her head in her hands and sighed shakily.

"Did... Did you just...?"

Though Raven didn't finish, Dove's powers were going way out of control and she could sense that Raven had seen her closing four eyes.

Dove nodded weakly. "I-I..."

Dove wasn't sure how to tell Raven without telling her, but something was telling Dove that Raven knew almost exactly what had happened.

Raven blinked and stared at Dove intently.

"I-I'm sorry..."

Raven, finding her voice and her senses, replied, "For what?"

"I didn't want... I mean... I shouldn't..." Tears glistened in Dov's eyes, she closed her eyes tightly and let some fall.

"You _really_ can't control your powers, can you?"

Dove shook her head and put her hands up to her face before she began sobbing quietly. "It's-It's s-so frightening..."

Raven crossed the room and sat down next to Dove. "You're fine now, aren't you?"

Dove didn't respond.

"Will you be okay?" Raven wasn't sure how mentally strong Dove was, but she guessed extremely weak, especially compared to herself.

Dove shrugged, and Raven began trying to calm Dove down. "It's alright, Dove... You're okay... Nothing happened... Dove, what was it? It didn't seem exactly like a vision-" Raven stopped herself, realizing that she wouldn't- shouldn't- know.

Dove took a shaky breath and shrugged. "Raven, I'm scared..."

"Of what?"

"Of losing control. It happened to me a few times in Azarath, and..." Sobs.

Dove leaned onto Raven, who was still trying to figure this all out. She hoped it wasn't what she thought... Could it be...? All her life, she had been told and knew that she was the only surviving child, but Dove just proved that wrong.

"Dove..." Raven wasn't sure how to approach it. "You... The eyes...Yesterday you told me you didn't want to talk about your family, or how you got your powers..."

Dove looked up at Raven with moist, violet eyes.

"I can... sometimes sense a restlessness in your soul that I feel a lot..." Raven took a breath. "Is it because Trigon is your father?"

Dove gasped sharply. The color drained from her face as she nodded weakly.

"The Azaratheans told me I was the only one..."

"Srentha was the only person besides my mother who knew of my existence." Dove's voice was weak.

"How did he come to learn about you?"

"He came to where my mother and I lived and came into the room where I was hidden, telling both of them he wanted to play with Sieara. He told me I could come out; he sensed me. He said he wouldn't tell anyone...I could sense he wasn't lying, and came out. He never told anyone..."

"How did he know-"

"He was young- so was I- and he was being trained to use Azar's magic. He was good at it, too."

Raven looked at the pain on her face. "What's wrong? Wouldn't thinking about him make you happier?"

"Most of the time, but there were so many instances when we'd plan to meet in secret, but one of us would have to cancel. And... He went with Azarath..." A fresh wave of tear began flowing from Dove's eyes.

Dove was still leaning on Raven, and Raven let her sob on her shoulder for a few minutes before she sighed softly. "It seems hard for you to move on..."

Dove looked up at her tearfully. "But- Azarath was all my life. The only thing I ever knew..."

"I understand, Dove... It's OK..."

Dove bowed her head.

"Maybe you should try meditating..."

"Won't work... I have enough troubles as it is, but now- just after..._ that_... happened..."

"What was it anyway?" Raven thought she might already know...

"I was remembering the vision, but then my emotions just took off. I couldn't control myself... You saw me with the... You know..." Dove shuddered. "I'm really afaid of giving in. My mother always told me that, unfortunately, I'd never escape the influence..."

"Dove, do you know he's not even alive?"

"Wha...? No..."

"Well..."

"Oh... But it's still in my blood..."

"Unfortunately."

"Very."

"Dove... Do you realize this makes us sisters...?"

"Well... I never thought about it... But... Yeah. We are. Hm..."

Both girls realized how much that explained.

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_Explains a lot, doesn't it? What did you think? Tell me, please! Sorry it ended kind of abruptly, but I'm sort of in a hurry to get this done... (on a time limit...) I'll change it when I get the chance._

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_**-Raven's secret-keeper**_


	7. Who Would've Guessed

_I'm so sorry it took so long to update! But I've updated with a lot of chapters..._

_It's a little short, but it's an important part in the storyline of Raven and Dove's life._

_Read and review,_

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_**Unforeseen Surprises**_

_**Chapter 7: Who Would Have Guessed…**_

When they had told the others (with a very vivid and amazed response from the team), Raven stayed in the room with Dove and talked to her, asking if she was okay.

"Mostly," Dove replied.

Raven could sense differently, but decided that Dove was showing another characteristic they shared: denial. Not to themselves, but to others.

"You can… talk to me if there's anything," Raven said, then she headed out.

Dove glanced after her, and turned the rest of the way when Raven was the door was closed. She could sense that Raven was sincere, and confused, too. Life was good, and then suddenly a girl upsets her ground of knowledge. _On her own life!_

Dove felt a little guilty for disrupting the Titans' lives, but she still allowed herself a slight smile.

She finally found someone she could trust.

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**_Raven's secret-keeper_**


	8. Uneasy Aftermath

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_**Unforeseen Surprises**_

_**Chapter 8: Uneasy Aftermath**_

Dove's eyelids were drooping at breakfast, and she kept yawning even though she tried desperately to stop it. Raven asked her why, and Dove looked at her with desperate, almost pleading eyes and looked away.

"I need to be excused…" Without eating a bit of her food, she got up and went into her room.

She sat down in the middle of her bed with her knees bent against her chest. She crossed her arms over her knees and put her head on her arms. A shudder escaped her as she fought to stay awake.

A few minutes later, Raven came in. Dove turned her head.

"Dove, what's wrong? You haven't been sleeping well at all in the past week. Are you okay?"

Dove shrugged. "I keep myself awake."

"Why?"

Dove was silent. Then she said, "I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"Of sleeping. Dreams become nightmares. And the painful memories…" She shuddered. "It all hurts so much. It makes me lose control. I worry that I'm losing myself, Raven. I feel like it's all taking over my soul."

Raven sat on the edge of the bed and listened.

"Raven… Have you ever felt what it's like being burned to ashes while every fiber of you is still alive? It hurts so much, so very much… I wonder if I'm getting a glimpse of hell itself."

Dove turned her head to Raven. Pain was in her eyes, in the tears threatening to fall, and on her face.

Vivid empathy was burning in Raven's soul, of pain, and memories, and lost lives, and their tortured souls.

"Raven… Sensing a thousand and more souls dying is unbearable. I wished I could just die then and there, cut of the line feeding torturous pain into me. That vision sparked a flame of fear I've never extinguished. And each time I remember, it flares brighter and brighter." Dove swallowed and inhaled shakily. When she spoke again, her voice was broken and tight.

"I keep myself awake because of it. If I sleep, it's because I can't keep myself awake any longer. Even thinking about it… It's a scar nothing can remove. It hurts so terribly bad…" She put her head between her chest and her knees and sobbed.

Raven was still grasping this; she was still trying to accept Dove as a sister, a person who also has the demon called Trigon for a father. Raven wanted to somehow comfort her, to console the pain, or at least ease the suffering a bit. Her reasons were both because of her empathetic powers and her empathetic experience. Though she never forced herself to stay awake, she always used to wonder if he would ever claim her as his own, or wipe out her human part, or even possess her, until he was destroyed. The memories still sometimes haunt her, but she wasn't phobic about it.

"Dove, I… understand what you mean, but… You really shouldn't keep yourself awake."

"But… I-I can't help it! I try to calm myself down, or t-t-to at least sleep, but… It's n-never work- Raven, it's not so easy!" Dove sobbed some more.

"Dove… How often do you have these nightmares?"

"N-not much, b-b-but when they do happen, it's so horrible…"

"Dove, I know exactly what you're talking about."

Dove looked up.

"I… had a couple of unpleasant dreams when Azar died…"

Dove blinked. "What were they like?" she asked quietly.

"More like visions than dreams… But they came to me as I was sleeping. I still remember it all vividly… I was only ten years old, but I still knew what was happening. My mother heard me thrashing and screaming, and she ran in to my room and threw her arms around me…"

"What were they about?"

Raven was silent, trying to find the right words to describe the sensations and feeling she had experienced.

Dove looked into Raven's eyes unwittingly before saying meekly, "It's okay… I just read your mind."

"Oh. Uh… Alright. So, you know you need to sleep, but can't?"

"No. I try, but like I said, I can't."

"Maybe you should try meditating before you lay down. It might help clear your mind and help you shed some of your fears."

"Really?"

Raven nodded. "Try for a few nights, and see what happens."

Dove's skepticism was still obvious on her face.

"Just at least try, Dove." Raven stood up and left.

Dove sighed. She thought about it, and realized that Raven knew more than she did, and decided to try.

Luckily, Raven was right, and Dove managed to stay asleep for about three or four hours the next night.

Her lessons with Raven continued without even slowing down, and Raven never even brought up the incident. Dove found this odd, but thought maybe it was because she shouldn't be thinking about it if Raven didn't bring it up.

A week or so later, Dove had fully caught up on her sleep, and Raven slipped Dove an approving and reassuring smile. Dove nodded in response.

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_**-Raven's secret-keeper**_


	9. Pacifist Nightmares

_Dove may seem a little bit "stupid" in this chapter, but that's because it deals with her Azarathean side and her pacifism, so please don't scoff her for ignorance or anything. And you have to remember that she's never talked to Raven about being a Teen Titan or a hero, so she doesn't really know how harsh it is, especially to her standards._

_Read and review,_

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_**Unforeseen Surprises**_

_**Chapter 9: Pacifist Nightmares**_

Dove had been with the team for more a month, five weeks and a day to be exact.

She was meditating next to Raven at the windowsill. She had gotten the hang of it, and it came easier to her than it did in the beginning. Robin was in his room, Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing video games behind the two half-sisters, and Starfire was feeding Silky.

Suddenly the entire room began flashing red. Dove yelped and jumped up. She still wasn't used to the Titan alarm and the Titans' duties, since it had only happened three times since she arrived.

Raven ran to the computer and began hitting the keys. The others joined Raven, and Dove followed.

"Sector five. Titans, GO!" Robin gave the shout and the team ran past Dove.

Raven looked back and looked at her. Dove suddenly realized Raven wanted to see how she did under the pressure of reality, and with wide and joyful eyes, followed Raven out the door.

Dove watched wistfully as Raven headed out over the river, then sighed and chanted, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." She shot off the ground.

She barely managed to gain control just before colliding with Raven and swerved right before forcing herself to a midair stop.

"Dove, focus!" Raven called, and she stopped and looked back at Dove. "You need to stay in control. Don't let anything affect you."

Dove nodded.

"Come on."

Dove soared to Raven's side, and they shot off after the team together.

Dove occasionally shook or slowed down, and Raven said then, "Focus your energy as well as your mind," without looking back.

Dove would then do so to the best of her abilities, and always managed to just keep up.

As they landed, Raven said, "That was better than the first time."

Dove replied, "I was almost completely inexperienced with levitation. And-" She yelped.

A strange-sounding roar was heard from inside the electronics store they stood in front of.

"Titans, GO!" Robin yelled. The team rushed in and Dove watched cluelessly. She gasped as she saw a strange creature that, except for a small red and black rectangle in what would be the chest, seemed to be made entirely of white, crackling, glowing electricity.

A puzzled expression showed on her face as an electric cord wrapped itself around Starfire's legs as she attempted to zoom away. She shrieked as her hair stood on end, and the cord glowed black before it snapped in half and fell from Starfire's body. As soon as it hit the floor, Starfire shot a barrage of balls of energy towards the creature. It roared, seemingly unaffected. Dove put her head in for a closer look as Raven recited Azarath Metrion Zinthos. A few boxes surrounded by a black aurora flew past Dove's head to the creature.

Dove gasped sharply in realization. The team was _fighting_ this thing!

Cyborg fired his cannon at it as the thing seeped into one electrical socket and formed out another. Suddenly red, twirling objects- birdarangs- glinted in Dove's view and spun to the ceiling. CLICKS and CHINGS met her ears, and water began to fall from the ceiling. The creature screamed, and it slowly shrunk into the rectangle.

Dove's mouth was now hanging open. She expelled a breath softly and a bolt of energy crackled around her shaking body.

Raven, sensing Dove's trauma, turned her way just as Dove turned and ran off.

"Dove!" She took to the air and levitated the way she had seen Dove run.

"What's wrong with Raven?" Beast Boy asked.

"I'm not sure, " Robin replied as he picked up the disc. All of the remaining Titans looked at where Dove had been standing a moment ago.

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Raven flew into the sky above the buildings, and saw the doors of the tower close, then she shot off. The water was settling, and Raven guessed that Dove either flew to the island too close to the water's surface and disturbed it or her powers were the cause.

Raven went into the tower and followed her senses to Dove's room. She let the door open and walked in.

Dove was on the bed shivering, her body crackling with a few bolts of energy. Dove was kneeling on the bed, her head in her hands.

As the door clicked shut, Dove looked up. Tears streaked her white face. She closed her violet eyes and hung her head with a shudder.

Raven walked over and sat down next to her, her feet hanging over the edge of the mattress. Any closer and she would have been touching Dove, who seemed to be in a sensitive state right now.

"Dove, what's wrong?"

Dove expelled a breath that sounded like a sob, and shook her head. After a few moments, she looked up at Raven.

"Why?" was all she whispered tightly.

Raven studied Dove in quizzicality.

"Never- all my life-" Dove's head dropped and she sobbed lightly.

"Dove, what's going on?"

Dove fell to her back and sobbed a few times. "The-the-the- Raven, why did you-? I-It doesn't seem right-! Why were you fighting?" She sobbed heavily, and Raven suddenly understood.

"Dove, Earth isn't at all like Azarath, especially this part of it. You'll only find that type of pacifism _in_ Azarath."

Dove didn't seem any better. "Raven, it just- It-it-it really scared me!" Dove's sobs continued relentlessly.

"Dove- " Raven sighed. She began to feel sympathy. "Dove… I… We weren't… We're heroes, Dove. It's what we do."

"Why so **_violently_**?" Dove opened her eyes to look at Raven. "Why?" Her voice was incredibly soft.

"That's how it has to be. If we didn't fight the villains, resist the evil… Then they'd succeed."

"In what? Why cause destruction? And the battle… It destroyed the things and the store." Dove sat up as she spoke and looked at Raven deeply.

Raven could sense frustration. Almost inaudibly, Dove whispered, "Ohhh! Why didn't I just stay in Azarath?!"

Raven was startled. "Don't you care about life- in itself?"

Dove shrugged. "It's so hard!" She was suddenly half yelling. "All this frustration, and all this _violence!_ Raven, I think I just **_hate_** it here!"

"Dove, your emotions-!" White bolts of energy were now flickering dangerously close to the walls.

"I just can't help it!" As she spoke, her voice quieted and tightened. "I _do_ care about life, Raven, and I really want to still be alive, but… Being raised by a full-blood Azarathian mother and not a trainer… _-sigh- _I was exposed to affection, and it kindled the already flaring fire of pacifism and compassion, going hand-in-hand…I just don't fear death and I'm not sure what to think of it. Raven… The violent ways of this world scare me so much. I can't stand it." Dove bowed her head away from Raven. The energy bolts began to stabilize to just around her body, and Dove whimpered. "I just wish everything was different…"

Raven looked at Dove in a way with feelings she hardly understood. Somehow, she felt a bit bonded to Dove. Dove sensed Raven's gaze and looked up reluctantly.

"So you never had anyone teach you even a bit about your emotions?" Raven asked gently. Dove shook her head. "No wonder you're so inexperienced…"

Dove blinked.

"Dove, it's not your fault you were never…" Dove's eyes filled with tears.

"Dove, what…?"

"I feel so vulnerable! Now you know my secrets, and I'm not used to it! It's just hard to trust even _you_."

"It's okay, Dove. I know what you mean…"

"I mean, how you found out about my- our- father…!"

"I know… I was pretty startled."

"I still wonder how I survived without blowing the house to bits."

"Dove, at least you know what to do in a bad situation. Sometimes that's all you need."

"And others, Srentha helped me out. He… kind of… guided me as far as focusing your mind goes. He needed to do that with certain spells. And it was always good to know I had someone to trust when I felt uneasy…"

"Trust is a valuable thing."

"Yeah… But you found out about me because you… well, found out. I didn't tell you because I trusted you."

"That's how the team found out about me. I pretty much waited until it was needed, though… Some secrets have to stay inside someone…"

Dove looked up, half startled and the rest worried. "What about with someone you really trust?"

"Sometimes you can't talk to someone if they won't understand."

"That's probably why it's so easy to talk to you more than any of the others… You know what it's like. Visions, no emotions allowed, mental battles where sometimes you even fight yourself for control." Dove swallowed.

Raven nodded solemnly. "And empathy, secrets, and no one who completely understands-" Raven stopped abruptly.

Raven and Dove looked at each other, both girls wondering the same thing. And time would soon answer their question.

_**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**_Review please_**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **_

_**-Raven's secret-keeper**_

_**I'm getting ready to wrap this story up, so tell me what you think. The next story will definitely follow the Raven and Dove plot, I assure you. It may even pass as a sequel. It actually follows a storyline that starts in the epilogue. (What do you think? Should it be its own story line, or a sequel? Review to answer me this, if anything.)**_


	10. Poetry in Motion

_The finale!!! And, sadly, the end of this story. But there will be over 20 stories following once I get going!!!_

_Read and review,_

_**Raven's secret-keeper**_

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_**Unforeseen Surprises**_

_**Chapter 10: Poetry in Motion**_

Dove was taking some time off from training with Raven. They had begun to work on her telekinesis, and it was getting incredibly stressful. She had her little notebook of poetry in front of her, reading through a list she kept the front two pages of poetry for.

In list of titles was Lost and Alone, Found and Belonging, Azarath, My Best Friend, and Ode to Azar. Dove sighed, remembering the moment her mother had given her that piece of paper with the poem written on it. Her mother was also a poet, and had scribbled a poem of ecstasy on a scrap piece before Dove told her about the vision and her final decision to leave.

Alerina, Dove's mother, knew about Dove's thought process, and the fact that Dove cared deeply for others and life. She sighed and handed Dove the poem with tears but a smile on her face. "Don't ever forget me, Dove," Alerina told her. "I couldn't if I was desperate," Dove had replied. "You've almost never left me to do something alone. I'll always be able to rely on your spirit, even if… you're not…" Dove had struggled to breath through a tight lump in her throat, and she and her mother hugged for the last time they would ever make physical contact, for as tightly and as long as they could.

Dove got off the bed, leaving the notebook upside-down, and stood looking up at her ceiling, eyes glazed with tears. "I'll still never forget you," Dove promised herself. She was immediately plummeted into a tumultuous flurry of memories, each of which had its own of the many tears falling from Dove's eyes. She remembered how her mother came home one day with the news that, "Azar had officially transcended the mortal plane," and when she had woken up from a dream as a five-year-old, and once when her mother had told her about why it was so important to keep her emotions in check.

Dove bowed her head and inhaled with a little sobbing squeak noise and put her arms on the bookshelf and rested her head on it. The thought of her mother was just far too painful, and she had avoided the thought for almost half a year now. There was no escaping it this time, and Dove just let the tears fall as they came. It was no use trying to stop them, anyway.

She began sobbing softly to herself, lost in a great storm of memories and deafened and blinded to the real world by pain of the memories. It hurt her so incredibly terribly to think about the one person who was there, the only comfort in her poisoning world of being a half-demon, the only consoling factor in a huge problem known to her a heritage.

There was no escaping it then.

She moaned and asked Azar softly why her mother wouldn't come. Then she remembered the poem; "a greater prize lies on the horizon," and "But oh, great Azar, we'll be one!" But she shuddered out a sigh, then continued sobbing softly.

Any unknown time later, Raven came in and softly called, "Dove?"

Dove looked towards her doorway, her eyes red and her face tear-streaked and moist.

"Dove, what is it? You're so…"

Dove just sobbed once. "I can't believe she's gone," Dove whispered almost inaudibly.

Raven had an instinct that it was her mother. They were beginning to form an empathetic bond somehow. When either girl was upset, the other would know. This was one of those times.

"Is it about Alerina?" Raven always referred to her by her name, because "Mother" had sentimental meaning, and that was the last thing Dove needed.

Dove nodded weakly.

"How long have you been like this?"

A shrug.

"Dove… You were so close to your mother… It's… not the best- "

"I know, but I can't help it…"

"Dove…" Raven sighed gently. "I know how hard this is on you. It's hard _not_ to."

"Why? Because you're an empathy or because you're with me almost 24-7?"

"Probably both."

Raven sat down on the bed and noticed the open book on the bed. "Dove, what's this?" Raven picked up the notebook and began leafing through the pages. Dove didn't mind much; she had begun to trust Raven at least a bit and they began to accept each other as friends as well as sisters. Which would be a lot to say for either of them.

Of course, the bond began to come naturally, because they both understood what the other meant and knew what it's like being the daughter of an other-dimensional demon, and of course the fact that, though Dove was easily more sentimental (which had toned down just a bit since she had first come), they had much more than heritage in common. The others even began viewing Dove in the same way they viewed Raven. Still, Dove was still getting used to the other team members and refused to go on any missions.

And the girls did have their differences, though. Dove liked to observe nature, and Raven didn't write poetry. And, of course, Raven was raised in a completely different way and environment than Dove. And Dove admitted to being squeamish around blood or intense pain. She said it's not exactly from a weak stomach, but because of the pain experienced, and without the chemical that eases the pain on the body in the empath (Dove), it's harder on her. And the fears, of course. Dove won't go anywhere NEAR a roller coaster.

Still, with all of their differences in their bodies, Dove being a bit shorter in height and proportion and the fact that she's still a bit oblivious when it comes to Earthen culture, Dove and Raven are feeling the beginnings of a close relationship.

Raven began comforting Dove, further strengthening the new existence. Raven started stroking Dove's hair, and Dove felt a bit comforted. Though she never knew Raven until only a few months ago, she was comforted and slowly sank into the arms of her sister.

After all, what more could she do?

And she felt a bit more at ease knowing that one day she would, in fact, tell Raven everything she could and that she wasn't quite so lost in her own world. Maybe Raven was the solution…

Dove sighed and relaxed. For once, the thoughts of her mother were replaced by happier, hopeful and joyous thoughts.

_Maybe this is where I belong…_

_**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**_Review please**_- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _**

_**-Raven's secret-keeper**_

_See the end of the epilogue for a sneak peak and a description of the next upcoming story!_


	11. Dove's Christmas Confusion

_Well, I was feeling a bit guilty for not updating on this story, so I put together a little apology chapter. Plus, this is such a special time of the year!!! Well, Merry Christmas!_

_**The holiday season **_

_**around Christmas day**_

_**is a time for giving**_

_**yet it also has a way…**_

_**what's inside the presents**_

_**isn't all it can show,**_

_**like on this California day,**_

_**without any snow…**_

_Read and review,_

_**Raven's secret-keeper**_

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_**Unforeseen Surprises**_

_**Special Holiday Chapter: Dove's Christmas Confusion**_

"Christmas?" Dove asked. It was December 20, two days before her birthday, and Beast Boy had just yelled, "_5 days 'till Christmas!"_

"You've never heard of Christmas?!" he was now asking.

"The girl's only been here for a few months, B. Go easy on her," Cyborg responded.

"Well," Dove said, "my mother _did_ say a little about it being a Christian holiday, but that's it. Azarathians don't celebrate Christmas, and we're always peaceful - well, before, you know… And my mother used to almost laugh at the phrase 'peace on Earth.' And the decorations never seemed necessary to her – or me now that I'm thinking about it – because Azarath is _already_ so beautiful." Dove sighed. "Well, it _was_…"

"Christmas isn't just a holiday," Robin told her. "It's a season. Yeah, everyone loves the presents, but there's more to it."

"Presents?"

"Your mom never mentioned the presents?" Beast Boy seemed amazed and puzzled.

"Um… yeah. So, what are they?"

Robin answered her. "Presents are gifts people give to each other."

And Starfire elaborated. "They are wrapped in brightly colored paper with a ribbon and a bow on the top, with- "

"Oh, yeah! She called them gifts, not presents. And... you put them… under a… tree…" Dove's expression became one that said "and I have absolutely _no_ idea why you would do **_that_**."

Robin noticed immediately and explained. "It's a tradition. I saw an interesting documentary about Christmas, and it said that it began in the colonial times."

"Wha - ?"

"In the 19th century, actually."

"Why?"

"They – the colonial Americans – wanted a tradition of their own. They had sailed to a new land for their lives to be different from their lives in England, and they didn't want it to be the same Christmas as the European version."

"Ok… But it makes no sense. It's a _tree!_" Dove nodded her head to the now vibrantly decorated Christmas tree in the corner of the room. "And why would you decorate it? Isn't nature beautiful enough?"

"That actually has religious roots… sort of. People – Vikings – were amazed with how the evergreens stayed alive and well in the winter, so they cut thought it had special powers. They cut down the evergreen trees and brought them inside their homes for protection and hope of getting through the harshest time of year. When the tradition was carried to Germany and Great Britain, people put apples on it to represent the Garden of Eden. It's a Christian story."

"Can you spare me that?" Dove was a full-hearted Azarathian, and honestly didn't care for anything "Earthenly religious."

"I don't see why not; I was going to. Well, basically, the apples became tradition, and people started using ornaments instead."

"Okay, then. So, the Christmas season is supposed to be a time of peace on Earth. And giving, right? Something like that…"

Robin nodded.

And Beast Boy couldn't resist cutting in, "And Santa Claus for the kids."

Dove suddenly laughed so swiftly, Raven jumped. She had been reading on the couch and was now giving Dove a silent look. "Dove," she said.

Dove sighed and wiped her near-tearing eyes. "I-I'm sorry, it's just – My mom told me about a fat guy – going down a chimney, too – ! It's always seemed humorous. I mean, really. Can you imagine it? And the reindeer! Let's not go there." Dove bit her tongue to keep from giggling. "Well, it's cute…"

"Which is why Santa only give to the children." Raven sighed and settled back into reading position.

Robin said, "Most people imagine Christmas as a happy time of year. And almost everyone knows there's supposed to be snow, but this is California. It hasn't snowed here in a long time."

"I've read poems – haiku, mostly – about snow. It sounds so beautiful."

"It is," Robin told her.

"And my birthday's only three days before it… So you celebrate birthdays too?"

"Most of them," Raven said.

Dove, not really knowing about the End of the World incidents, thought Raven was talking about her own birth in Azarath.

"Not really," Raven said. Dove blushed a bit, knowing she should be watching herself_-_ 24-7 was what Raven had said.

The other four team members glanced at each other.

"Well, then, what?" Dove began.

Raven looked up at her. "Let's just say last year wasn't exactly a perfect birthday."

Dove gasped softly. She had locked eye contact with Raven and was accidentally doing something she had never done before: she was reading Raven's memories.

"Oh god.." Dove stumbled a step, and sat down on the couch. "I didn't mean to… Raven, I'm… Oh…" Dove felt a bit dizzy, and put her head down with her eyes closed.

"Dove?" Raven, having an empathetic soul, was sensing Dove's pain, and knew Dove had seen her soul as it always was with Dove's telepathetic powers… and she knew Dove was almost in major shock.

"That's part of the reason of why you need to stay in control…" Raven put in her bookmark and got up before sitting down next to Dove. "It's not that bad... Dove…?"

Dove moaned. "I… _think_ I'm OK… Just disoriented…"

"She was caught off-guard," Raven told the others. "And with a new ability. She'll be fine… Just relax, okay, Dove?"

Dove sighed. "Okay… I think I'm okay… Really." Dove looked up at Raven. "I need to meditate," she whispered, and then she left the room in slow, careful steps.

Raven watched her the entire way with alert, concerned eyes.

"Is she okay?" Robin asked Raven.

"She'll be fine."

"Aren't you going to go coach her or something?" Beast Boy asked.

"Not now. She's going to be sensitive to my soul for a little while, then she'll be okay… I don't want her empathy to go out of control any more than her telekinesis. And… She's doing a lot better."

Dove, who was resting with her back against the wall outside the room, heard Raven and smiled a bit before she started of again.

Once she was in control again – and this dizziness went away – she'd think about what she saw, and wonder… But not until she meditated, and she was _entirely_ better. Which would lead to her asking Raven about it, and Raven barely answering. Eventually, Raven would tell her, but not now. Not yet. For now, all Dove had on her mind was calming down, then figuring out how and why she read Raven's memories, and then she would tell Raven so they could get it into the category of "know how to teach Dove to control it."

_**Well, some presents come early. Some can't be explained, only guessed at. Some don't seem very good, but will eventually prove their worth. And some aren't even tactile. This new ability happened to be Dove's and the 'From:' is followed by 'Fate.' And there are many more, soon to come. But for now, Dove had a very interesting Christmas.**_

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_**-Raven's secret-keeper**_


	12. Epilogue

_Read and review,_

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_**Unforeseen Surprises**_

_**Epilogue**_

Raven was meditating like she always had since Dove came, in front of the window next to Dove. But her chants of "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" faltered.

Dove, having a quick ear even while meditating and a sharp sense of empathy, looked over.

Raven moaned. "Raven, are you okay?" Dove asked, concern far too obvious in her voice.

"I…I'm not sure," Raven replied quietly. She put a hand to her head and moaned. "Dove, ever since you came to us, I've been feeling… I… I don't know exactly what… Maybe disrupted…?"

Dove was confused and wasn't sure what to make of it. "But are you okay?"

Raven shrugged. Dove remembered overhearing a conversation about Raven… _"Since Dove came, Raven's been acting more affectionate. Or is it still an effect from the End of the World? She's not meditating as much, and I heard her moaning once in her sleep. Is she OK? What's going on?"_

"Dove… I'm done here," Raven said softly, then got up and left.

Dove stood up and followed Raven. _Maybe she doesn't want to talk, but I still care… What if something's wrong with her?_

_She might not want me to know… I feel so guilty following her… Maybe I'll let it go… And pray to Azar that she's OK._

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_Next in the Raven and Dove stories: **Sketchbook Story: Mystery Sickness.**_

_**When Raven gets "motion-sick" on a ride, and faints sometime later at home, the team (plus Dove) know that something is extremely wrong. And what does it have to do with Dove? The team faces another internal problem when Dove offers, and seems to have her mind set on, going out of the tower and letting Raven heal.**_

_**There are going to be many new discoveries for the team and Raven and Dove are both going to learn just how much they really do care about each other.**_

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_**Raven's secret-keeper**_


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